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Both of the recommended tribes have a modest starting position with a few established cities to control. Both of these military forces appear to be pretty well instituted, and perhaps more could have been done to give the player the sense of 'new arrival'. Perhaps a tactic of leaving a few undefended native or barbarian cities at the start ripe for take over could lend to this impression of invasion or city occupation. For both the Namuhs and the Galaxions, a small treasury is provided, although this soon erodes and needs quick rectification through hunting down of enemy spaceships. Likewise, for both tribes there are problems with unit support, and in many cases units are disbanded from the outset because of this. It's not all 'beer and skittles' in the 'happiness department' at Deity level either.
MAP: One of the strengths of the scenario is the brightly coloured map that endeavours to integrate space and land, and within that land an ocean environment. While this is not the first scenario to separate space and land, at least cosmetically the ocean addition (using desert terrain) does add a further dimension. The author could have used river squares instead (or used desert-river squares), which would allow the player to irrigate the seaside terrain straight from the 'ocean' (i.e. rivers) rather than needing to link to existing irrigated terrain. The map is mostly exposed at the start of the game, which does permit the player to orient themselves quickly to the other tribes' positions. At 140 x 140, there's plenty of room, although much of the planet surface is pretty unyielding in terms of suitable city site locations. GAME OBJECTIVE: The objectives / points system is used, and is well suited to the invading Namuh tribe, being the scenario protagonists. The clock duration is effectively limitless and there is no 'spaceship victory', which means that victory is only obtainable by world conquest - at your leisure… with one event-sourced exception (that shall not be disclosed here). FINANCES: A real problem for either tribe in this scenario in that the small cash reserves are quickly chewed up in city maintenance costs. Although there are some big financial prizes to be captured in terms of enemy spaceships, this pending bankruptcy is almost assured without some luck in this space battle zone. There are no trade caravans / freight units to extend trade bonuses, government income spent solely on taxes will not permit a fiscal surplus, and there are too few city improvements to sell off that would help abate this dilemma without making your own position in other areas even worse. GOVERNMENT: The above difficulties with finances are only made worse by the fact that government switching has been disallowed. The choices for governments are unusual - the attacking force is in Democracy, while the countering defending force of the planet is in Despotism (corruption decimating the trade income of several cities including the sizeable ocean-base 'Midway'). Neither of these governments seem to be appropriate for the tribes' identities, nor in terms of encouraging expansionary game play through conquest. This is one area that could have been addressed in the 'read me' document - why prohibit government switching and why were these particular government forms chosen? Government-to-government negotiation too appears to be disallowed, which makes financial gifts or demands unobtainable - another source of possible economic relief gone.
As noted in the introduction, there is some customisation of the tribes made through the provision of 'obsoleting' technologies. This aspect has been implemented successfully. EVENTS: A relatively succinct 5kB events file is included that addresses a few of the basics, such as maintaining the invader's aggression and preventing them from entering into negotiations. On capture of selected cities, and on a few random turns, new units enter the fray. As elsewhere mentioned, one victory condition is possible through an event, while some of the spacecraft also carry a financial reward if destroyed. Despite some duplication of one event (negotiation) the file works without a hitch, and the text that comes with some of the events works to reinforce the scenario's theme. Perhaps given the available space in terms of unused technology slots and the events file itself, the author could have pushed the events mechanism a little harder adding a few interesting technology-based events. BALANCE: All up, once the immediate economic concerns are rectified, the balance is fair although does often favour defensive units at the ground-to-ground level, while air strike units if unopposed by 'fighter-style' defenders get a pretty notable advantage. The Namuh invaders have a large task ahead of them, and it's questionable whether they have enough of a force to achieve a bloodlust victory. There are some general concerns however in that while the non-occupied terrain is very harsh, even the terrain around the cities is not often generous. The lack of opportunity for irrigation is one concern, particularly as good shield producing terrain tends not to also offer food (equivalent to mined gold or iron ore squares). As such, the player is often confronted with running the risk of city starvation in order to get production levels up. Given the pressing financial and unit support problems, there is quite a bit of balancing to do. The build cost on some units is a bit puzzling at times. For instance, a Forcefield is a better unit than a Defence Cannon at a considerably cheaper cost, while there are several units that offer neither particularly inviting offence nor defensive attributes that come at a comparatively hefty price. |
It would seem that quite a bit of effort has gone into making this scenario, and there are some good ideas that have been pursued. It seems baffling that the read me file be so lacking in several areas, where another five minutes on its composition could transform it into a useful adjunct. There are some strategic approaches that would be of clear benefit to the player if spelt out in such a document - how to address the finances, which units are good for what purpose, etc. Thankfully the author did acknowledge several other scenarios that contributed in different ways to 'Galactic Guardians'. SUPPORT FILES: Some good effects were achieved with some of the other support files; both game.txt and labels.txt have been modified and added to further customise the scenario. A few examples include; 'Sire' being replaced with 'Commander', the 'Foreign Minister' is now 'Cyber Intelligence', and 'roads' and 'railways' are now 'tubes' and 'aqua-tubes'. A cities.txt file is not included and as such new city names come straight from the default Civ2 game. These do appear out of place in light of the creative names chosen for the scenario's established cities at the commencement. |
UNITS: The scenario unit graphics have been drawn almost entirely from some of the MicroProse scenarios or independently produced games. Concealed shields are a notable problem with some units, and should be fixed as a high priority should the scenario undergo future modifications.
Several default graphics are retained such as several of the default game's 'Oracle' and 'Cure for Cancer' icons. OTHER GRAPHICS: The terrain visuals have undergone a significant overhaul, with a range of new looks and renaming of special resources. Some special resource images are very effective. The food and shield icons have been amended but are difficult to see clearly. The trade arrows have been recoloured, and conversely look quite good. The changes to the 'cities.gif' file provide tribes with a range of sets of city design pictorials. Credit to the author for graphically separating sea from land cities, by providing sea bases with a 'Pressure Dome' (city walls). This is a problem for the appearance of any newly created sea bases (without the 'Pressure Dome' improvement), but it's only a minor concern. ORIGINALITY: Points here again for attempting to add an ocean terrain where the traditional ocean has been used instead for a space environment. The move to separate city styles just mentioned in the preceding paragraph is a further successful move. |
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CONCLUDING REMARKS: There are some very worthy new ideas that have tried to be implemented in this game, however there are also several problems with this game's set up. Pending financial ruin and unit support difficulties are quite apparent after playing this game for only a dozen turns, and although there are tactics to address money worries, these do require some good fortune in the space war. The government forms chosen are unusual and should be explained, while the lack of technology and trade development does simplify this scenario. Player support measures could receive a significant boost. Clearly the strengths of the scenario lie in the setting; the effort to modify the terrain to accommodate an ocean effect, some good names for units, city improvements and wonders, a simple but credible plot, some good changes to the support files and the clock, and a punchy event file that enhances the theme each contribute positively to this game's experience. |
ORIENTATION: It is disappointing to still see scenarios
without the pedia.txt file included, and the player would be
advised to copy-and-paste theirs across from the Civ2 directory
into the scenario folder. The 'read me' file is very brief and
requires plenty more detail to be of much value to the player.
SCIENCE: In short there is none. There is a
technology tree that is brief and appears to be of value only
to the not-for-play tribes. The lack of scientific pursuit arguably
curbs the intricacy of this scenario.
ICONS: There are many original contributions
in the icons file, that include alterations to the civilization
advance graphics. Arguably these could benefit from more of a
pictorial and less of a simple symbolic appearance, but credit
should be given for making the enhancement nonetheless.